The iPhone X was supposed to come out next year, Apple exec says

Dan Riccio, Apple's senior vice president in charge of hardware engineering, says it was supposed to launch in 2018, but Apple was able to "deliver them this year."

Apple's most expensive and most advanced iPhone goes on sale on Friday, just under two months after it was revealed.

The unusual gap before the iPhone X hit store shelves has spurred a cottage industry of rumors that the device needed to be delayed. But according to one of Apple's top hardware executives, Dan Riccio, the iPhone is actually coming out a year ahead of schedule.

"As Riccio described it, Apple had "the line of sight" for a 2018 iPhone X launch, "but with a lot of hard work, talent, grit, and determination we were able to deliver them this year," he told Mashable.

"That choice, one that in hindsight seems a little odd considering how the very existence of a better iPhone may have impacted iPhone 8's fortunes, apparently put additional pressure on the teams.

"In a rare, albeit brief, moment of stunning transparency, Riccio revealed that the compressed timeline left little room to consider functional alternatives. Such changes are part of Apple's iPhone lore."

One of Riccio's primary points is that Apple had to commit to a new facial recognition feature replacing the fingerprint sensor by November 2016, which placed stress on the engineering teams.

The iPhone X will retail for $999, and sports the first major iPhone redesign in three years.

The iPhone X has two features that haven't appeared on an iPhone before — an edge-to-edge screen using a different display technology called OLED, and a new bar of sensors and 3D cameras that enable your face to be used as your password.

The iPhone X is backordered for weeks. Currently, Apple is showing 5-6 week waiting periods for preorders of the iPhone X. So if you have trouble finding one this holiday season, just remember, it wasn't even supposed to come out this year.